You Can Go Wild Trusting Me (3)
Seoul's massive criminal organization.
Ma Dongchul, second-in-command of the Daeho Clan, was out patrolling his territory as usual.
The moment he stepped into one of the clubs, a line of awkwardly assembled greenhorns caught his eye.
Dongchul clicked his tongue in open displeasure and called out to his subordinate Hyunsik.
"Hey~ Shin Hyunsik! When the hell did you start pullin' in this many brats who still look like the milk ain't even dried off their faces yet?"
"Ah, Boss Dongchul! These punks're more useful than they look, y'know!"
"Hello, sir!"
At Hyunsik's signal, the baby-faced rookies who looked freshly recruited all bowed their heads in unison.
"Tsk..."
Dongchul clicked his tongue with a sour look and started walking again.
Hyunsik hurried after him and struck up conversation.
"We're gonna have a real dust-up with the Biryong Clan soon enough, ain't we?"
"Aigoo, damn... So you dragged these greenhorns in to use as meat shields?"
"Heheh... That's right... And not just that... See that blond-dyed punk over there?"
"Ah, that dark, slick-lookin' one?"
Dongchul turned his head at Hyunsik's words and eyed the blond the man was pointing at.
Even at a glance the kid was putting on airs, flexing for show—looked utterly useless without even needing to test him.
Still, Hyunsik had singled him out specifically, so curiosity stirred on its own.
"Yeah. That one's got himself a proper backer, they say."
"A backer?"
"That's right... Our outfit's been diggin' in and settlin' roots in Seoul just fine, but we're still a bit short on this, ain't we?"
Hyunsik curled his fingers into a circle to illustrate.
Dongchul nodded and asked,
"So how big a backer we talkin'?"
"You've heard of Jinmyeong Construction, right, Boss?"
"Ah~ Jinmyeong Construction?"
Of course he had.
It was a mid-sized firm, but in scale and name recognition it sat right at the tail end of the major conglomerates—a real heavyweight construction company.
"What, is that punk the president's son or something?"
"Come on~ Boss, what kinda joke is that?"
"Damn it, quit draggin' it out! Spit it already!"
Dongchul deliberately raised his hand in exaggerated warning and barked.
Knowing it was just banter, Hyunsik grinned slyly and continued.
"He's got a personal connection with the president's daughter, and he just got a job from her, he says~"
"A job? What kind of job's gonna bring in real money? Ain't it just some 'dunk a kid for me' nonsense?"
Hitting one person paid well enough, sure, but it was never the kind of cash that could move an entire organization.
So when Dongchul looked skeptical,
"Kekeke... Then we just make the job real big, don't we?"
Hyunsik answered with a wicked smile.
Catching the meaning, Dongchul
"Aigoo, our Hyunsik's cookin' up another scheme, I see~"
nodded in satisfaction and wore a matching wicked smile of his own.
After hatching the plot with Hyunsik, Dongchul sent the greenhorns off to handle the "job."
Then, once he figured they ought to have finished cleaning up, he led his men to the scene at a leisurely pace.
But what met his eyes was a sight he could scarcely believe.
The narrow alley was littered with Daeho Clan members—every one of them sporting the tiger tattoo—lying there in utter ruin.
"What the... What the hell kind of situation is this, huh?"
Dongchul clicked his tongue in pure disbelief.
Then,
"Hey, Hyunsik? This part of your plan too?"
he asked, turning a sarcastic look on the man beside him.
Hyunsik, clearly shaken by the spectacle, was pouring cold sweat as he scrambled to answer.
"Haha... Boss, you already know that can't be true, right?"
"That so?"
After that offhand reply to Hyunsik, Dongchul
Whoosh—!
launched himself forward in a blink and drove a fist straight at Sihyun's face.
But
"!!!"
Sihyun reflexively snapped a leg up and blocked the punch clean.
When Dongchul's fist and Sihyun's foot collided,
BOOOOM—!
a sound like a bomb going off thundered down the alley.
"Damn... He actually blocked it?"
Dongchul felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth as he eyed the kid who had stopped his attack head-on.
When he first stepped into the alley he'd thought three girls were just yanking each other's hair out.
But no.
One look told him a venomous little snake of a punk was wedged between the two women.
Dongchul knew at once—
that one had to be the bastard who'd flattened every last greenhorn.
So he'd struck without hesitation.
And the kid had blown past every expectation.
This wasn't a snake.
Maybe—
this was a tiger cub.
"Our little miss from Jinmyeong Construction hired a bunch of greenhorns to take care of a monster like this?"
Dongchul turned his head toward Suhyeon and asked with a mocking curl of the lip.
"Wh-who the hell are you!?"
Suhyeon blurted, startled by the way he spoke as if he already knew her.
"Me? I'm the boss of that punk over there who pissed himself and passed out."
The instant the words left his mouth Dongchul swung at Sihyun again.
BOOOOM—!
"Khuk!!"
This time more power rode the punch; Sihyun grunted and was forced a half-step back.
Yuri, terrified at the sight, shouted at Dongchul.
"You gangster bastard! Cut it out right now!"
Yuri stepped forward as if to shield Sihyun and blocked Dongchul's path.
"Damn... And who the hell is this little girl now?"
Dongchul deliberately put on a deeply put-upon face and sneered.
To him,
"Just take care of that bitch too."
Suhyeon said in a voice of ice.
The sudden arrival of Dongchul was suspicious, but unlike that idiot Taesu he looked like someone who could actually get the job done.
Dongchul smiled, satisfied.
"Kek... No wonder you're a construction president's daughter. Okay then~~~"
He lifted his fist again with a sly grin and turned it toward Yuri.
"I don't go easy just 'cause you're a woman!"
In that instant—
CRACK—!
a blow like a lightning strike slammed into his side.
"Keuugh!?"
Barely shedding the impact with his arm, Dongchul stumbled back several steps, face blank with disbelief.
This Ma Dongchul got pushed back!?
A strange light flickered in his eyes.
He simply could not believe that kind of destructive power had come from Sihyun's scrawny frame—more than a head shorter than him.
And then—
Tremble...
his whole body began to shake on its own.
Thrill? Fear?
Or both?
He couldn't tell.
But—
Haha... Shit... I thought he was a tiger cub, but the bastard's a real tiger!
For the first time in ages Dongchul felt his blood boil.
"Aigoo... I really shouldn't be doin' this before we go at it with those Biryong Clan bastards..."
Dongchul scratched his head as if truly troubled this time, muttering under his breath—
yet the corners of his mouth were already curling into a quiet arc.
How long had it been since a real fight?
The boss had given strict orders: Seoul wasn't the provinces—too many eyes, too much to worry about—so no running wild.
Thanks to that Dongchul hadn't even had a chance to properly stretch, and he'd been fretting inside that he was going to rust for real.
And now, right in front of him,
an unexpected, truly
electrifying moment had arrived!
"..."
Looking into Sihyun's cold, murderously settled eyes only made Dongchul's blood burn hotter.
"Damn! Today I really hit the jackpot!"
Fighting spirit blazing, Dongchul started to charge Sihyun again.
But right before he could—
"Boss, stop!!!"
Hyunsik's desperate shout rang out from behind.
Dongchul whipped around in irritation.
"What the hell you yappin' about!? Hyunsik, even you—if you kill my buzz right now I'll really kill you!"
Even under Dongchul's killing intent Hyunsik kept yelling frantically.
"Stop! The woman that kid's protecting... no, that person! You can't lay a hand on her!!"
"What? That person...?"
Brows knitting, Dongchul turned back to look at Yuri again.
Then—
"Ha! Look at that—some gangster trash actually recognizes me?"
Yuri smirked and threw him a thoroughly provocative stare.
Furious, Dongchul
"What'd you just say!? This bitch gone crazy?"
started to storm toward her, but Sihyun was already blocking the way, and
Hyunsik shouted again, desperate.
"Boss! We're seriously fucked if you do!"
At that Dongchul
"Damn it!! Fine! This bitch... no, just who the hell is this person!?"
roared, about to lose his mind from frustration.
Then
Hyunsik, cold sweat pouring, cried out in a trembling voice,
"That person is a young master of the Cheonryong Group!"
At those shocking words—
"What!?"
Dongchul of course,
"...Cheonryong Group?"
"What?"
and even Sihyun and Suhyeon nearby couldn't hide their shock.
Thanks to Hyunsik's desperate shout,
once Dongchul grasped Yuri's identity he immediately
had no choice but to fold at the waist with the force of a closing folder, bowing deeply.
"I failed to recognize you and committed a grave discourtesy. I am truly sorry."
The lazy provincial drawl he always wore was gone without a trace;
in its place came polished, clean formal speech.
Dongchul had no choice but to show respect.
The Daeho Clan's momentum after expanding from the provinces into Seoul was sky-high,
but in the end gangsters were still just gangsters.
In front of the name Cheonryong, flat-out prostration was common sense.
At the sudden total about-face from Dongchul and his crew,
Yuri clicked her tongue.
"Tsk..."
Her gaze was pure contempt; Dongchul's pride stung, yet he could not show even a flicker of it.
Because it was Cheonryong.
"How might we make this up to you...?"
Hyunsik beside him rubbed his hands together in a greasy, servile way as he asked.
Yuri frowned and
"Forget it. Just take those things and get lost. Especially that bastard—he's filthy as hell."
She jerked her chin toward Taesu sprawled on the ground.
Whether from the cold or not, the yellow liquid that had run down his pants had already frozen solid,
but the stench still blanketed the entire alley in a nauseating cloud.
Hyunsik immediately bent double.
"Understood! We'll be careful never to cause you trouble again!"
After that groveling answer the Daeho Clan pack grabbed Taesu and his underlings and vanished like a shot.
At that absurd spectacle Suhyeon
"Th-that's impossible..."
couldn't close her mouth.
She simply could not believe it.
Cheonryong, of all things.
How could Kim Sihyun—no, how could a beggar like him—have any connection to Cheonryong?
Swallowed by that chaos, Suhyeon
"It's a lie!!!"
screamed as if tearing her throat.
"Kim Sihyun, there's no way a beggar bastard like you has anything to do with Cheonryong!"
Her voice grew more and more hysterical.
"Yeah, that's right! There's no way this crazy bitch is Cheonryong...!"
In the end she completely lost her reason.
In that moment—
SLAP—!
a searing pain exploded across her cheek.
"Kyaaaaah!!"
She couldn't help the scream.
And when she lifted her head,
"Can't you shut up?"
Yuri was staring her down with ice-cold eyes.
"You fucking bitch."